I’m currently writing a post about the resignation of General Mattis and US Special Envoy Brett McGurk over Trump’s dreadful decision to withdraw US troops from Syria. However, it’s Christmas Eve in New Zealand and I still have a lot to do to prepare for tomorrow. Therefore I’m not going to get the post done. Further, it means it may be 2-3 days before I get back to it.

While I was searching for cartoons to populate my post, I found quite a few with a Christmas theme. So I thought I’d post them as it’s been so long since I did a post. I’ve also got a lot of Christmas cartoons in the tank, so i’m including some of them too. I hope you enjoy them!

Syria

First up, here’s one that may also make it into my Mattis/Syria post.

On Melania’s Christmas Display

The US Government Shutdown

In the rest of the developed world, this idea of shutting down the government is quite staggering. Not only does it not happen, it couldn’t happen. A shutdown of much of the government because Trump can’t get what he wants is frankly appalling. He wants to keep his signature campaign promise. However, one of the things that made that promise so appealing to his base was that they weren’t going to be paying for the wall:

Trump at his rallies: Who’s going to pay for the wall?Cult:Mexico!Trump: Who’s going to pay?Cult: Mexico!!!

Of course, Mexico were never paying for it and now Trump needs funding from Congress.

The Border Wall with Mexico and Refugees to the US

One of the Republican tactics to try to stop refugees is cruelty. When you’re trying to escape from the sort of things many of these people are, this won’t work. It’s as if they get pleasure from torturing people. . .

There’s a GoFundMe campaign to fund Trump’s border wall. Apparently, it’s got more than US$6 million in it! Trump’s sheep really are like a cult.

GOP Healthcare Plan

The Multiple Investigations into Trump and Trump Entities

The Authoritarian Far-Left

When people first began being aware that there was a need to be more politically correct with their language, it was a good thing. We saw a lot of improvement in the way people spoke to one another. However, there is now an element on the far-left that is dominating the discourse. They are making things worse instead of better and causing strife wherever they go. The US and Great Britain appear to be suffering the most from this, but New Zealand hasn’t entirely escaped.

Christmas: General

Here’s a selection about Christmas from my collection.

An Atheist Christmas

Long-time subscribers will have seen many of these before.

I’m looking forward to Christmas more than I have for a long time. I have nine people (and a cat) at my place for Christmas Day. Five more will be joining us by Skype for part of it, so the whole family will be together. (Mum, my three siblings and their spouses, six nieces and nephews, and me). Thankfully, most of the food is being bought/brought by others. I have three dishes to prepare myself – Mussel salad, Potatoes to Die For, and Boysenberry Ambrosia. As usual with my family, there will be enough food to keep us in leftovers for days. We’ll probably still be eating ham sandwiches at the end of January!

I’m going to be a bit of a wreck when it’s all over, but it’ll be worth it!

I’m sorry the offerings have been a bit slim over the last six months. I discovered at my last three-monthly check-up (a couple of weeks ago) it wasn’t just my back that was the problem. I won’t bore you with all the details. Suffice to say there is other stuff going on. However, diagnosis is 90% of the fix. (Well, it is when you have a decent health system anyway.) I’m much, much better as a result and I’m now mostly back to normal.

I hope you all enjoy yourselves over the Christmas season. Thank you so much for taking the time to read my efforts over the year, especially those who take part in the discussion in the comments. I really appreciate you all very much.

I’m hoping to get at least one of the two posts I’m currently writing out before the New Year, but if I don’t, all the best for a fabulous New Year too.

If you enjoyed reading this, please consider donating a dollar or two to help keep the site going. Thank you.

Heather, I’m glad that you’re back and with this Christmas post. Things are so crazy and dismal and scary that we really need something like a bunch of cartoons and bon mots to lighten things up. Here’s a trailer for an atheist Christmas comedy video. Gotta buy the video, but the trailer’s free https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_DGNyq9XNU. Looking forward to your post on Mattis.

I sure hope that these new problems you’ve developed are remediable and that you’ll be feeling better. By the way, when you say you’re going to be entertaining 9 people and a cat, is the cat the one that’s commandeered you and your abode? If so, what a faithful servant you are to throw such a big party for your cat!

Have a great Xmas with your family and cat Heather (I think it’s the day after now for you). We’re spending it with brother, niece and parents and some friends whose families are far away. Like you, we have enough food for 20! Every year. Holiday leftovers rock though.

I’m glad to hear you were diagnosed which means you can mend- or there’s a way forward. As you said, that’s the hard part in many instances.

These tweets were all enjoyable. The one’s pertaining to Trump are spot on…what a unbelievable disaster.

Glad to see you back, and doing relatively well. Since it was more than a month, I was wondering if you had given up on your website. I note most cartoons are about the wall and the shutdown, only few about the enormity of the inane decision to withdraw from Syria. I think the wall and the shutdown fade into near insignificance compare to that. It shows that Mr Trump, if not an actual Russian shill (which we all suspect), behaves exactly as if he is one. There is no other explanation. ‘Bringing the troops back home’ makes little sense, it is not as if they are draftees. It deepens the fears of unreliability of the US as an ally, already damaged by dissing NATO, the unilateral withdrawal from the Iran deal and the DPRK circus. It also clears the way for a possible unleashing of a genocide of the Kurds by the Turks. The Kurds that, as YPG and later SDF, did the dirty work for the US in defeating the IS. But I guess we’ll hear more about that in your next post about the resignations of Mr Mattis and Mr McGurk. As a child I grew up with ‘Sinterklaas’, a tall white bearded man dressed in red, on a white horse an having a black helper, with about the same function as Santa: giving presents via the chimney and punishing the naughty ones. Probably an ancestor of Santa Claus. As a child, I always considered him as the Lord’s representative on Earth. I suspect he, and particulary his exposure, were instrumental in me becoming an atheist. Merry Christmas!

Thanks so much for your kind words everyone. Sorry I’m not replying to all of you individually. Unfortunately, there’s not enough time, (and the washing machine is beeping at me too).

I had a lovely Christmas day. I was absolutely shattered by the end of the day, but it was worth it. I needed all of yesterday to recover. A couple of nieces spent yesterday afternoon with me, and my goddaughter (yes, her parents know I’m an atheist!) stayed last night, which was lovely.

The cat finally abandoned me though. He got on my bed last night, but when I let him out first thing this morning, he came back to her bed on his return an hour later. My niece/goddaughter can’t have a cat because her dad’s allergic, so it was a real treat for her. Her face just lit up when she was telling her dad about it.

Oh, and I will front up with the recipe for Potatoes to Die For at some point. I don’t have a photo of the dish, as it’s one I’ve adapted myself, so I’ll have to trawl through the internet and find something that looks the same. Shouldn’t be too hard.